Progress in understanding stellar interior opacity with laboratory experiments at Z

Discrepancies between the Standard Solar Model and helioseismology identified about 2 decades ago have yet to be resolved. Revising models for stellar matter opacity could be a key part of the explanation and laboratory experiments are underway to evaluate this possibility. Published data indicates that models underpredict iron opacity at stellar interior conditions but understanding why this is so remains elusive. Here we provide a summary of the effort centered on experiments at Z, including motivation, experiment methodology, expanded temperature/density regimes, measurements with multiple elements, and future directions.